Bowling game



July 8, 1941. I c. WEBER BOWLING GAME Filed Dec. 18, 1957 4Sheets-Sheet1 July 8,1941. c. WEBER 2,248,316

BOWLING GAME I Filed Dec. 18, 19:57 4 She ets-Sheet 2 7dZZ/Z65: v i @TF/ir /M1; @agg 0M0 July 8, 1941. c, WEBER 2,248,316

BOWLING GAME Filed Dec. 18, 1937 4Sheets-Sheet 3 Jilly 8, c. WEBER2,243,316

BOWLING GAME Filed Dec. 18, 1937. 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 i A g III ll pins.

Patented July 8, 194i BOWLING GAME Carl Weber, Chicago, Ill., 'assignorof one-third to William Kings and one-third to Alfons Bacon,

both of Chicago, Ill.

Application December 18, 1937, Serial No. 180,483

5 Claims.

My invention relates to bowling games and more particularly to anautomatic, coin operated game in which a marble or the like is used forthe ball. The game is preferably adapted to occupy a relatively smallspace so that it may be placed in hotel lobbies, drug stores, places ofamusement and the like but may also be used in the home, at clubs, etc.where the coin mechanism would not be desired and could be replaced by apush button or the like.

An object of my invention is to provide a game which is substantiallycompletely automatic except for the aiming and projecting or propellingof the ball which is done by a novel movable spring operated plunger.The clearing of the deadwood or fallen pins and the resetting of thepins is electrically operated. This may be initiated by either a pushbutton or a coin actuated mechanism but preferably by a combination ofthe two. With a coin operated game the coin would put the game inoperative condition but,

after the ball was propelled at the pins, 8. push button would operatethe device to remove the upset pins, and return the ball for the secondshot or throw, the standing pins remaining on the alley.

Another object is to provide an operating mechanism for resetting thepins, returning the ball. etc., that will occupy a relatively smallplace and have a minimum number of moving parts. Another object is toprovide a novel device in which a new set of pins is placed upon thealley almost immediately after one set has been removed therefrom sothat the next player will not have long to wait for his turn.

Most table games which one encounters in public places are largelydependent on luck and theelement of skill plays very little part. Withmy game, however, the more skillful player should usually win. Anotherobject, therefore, is to provide a table game which is more responsiveto the skill of the player than the games of this kind now on themarket.

Another object is to provide a table game which is played exactly thesame as the usual game played on a regulation bowling alley. The playerprojects or propels the ball to knock down the pins, then presses abutton which removes both the standing pins and the fallen pins ordeadwood from the alley. The standing pins are then returned to theirposition on the alley and the player has another turn to knock downthese Strikes and spares are, of course, possible, and the game isscored exactly the same as the regulation game.

Another object is to provide a ball propelling device whereby spin orenglish" may be put on the ball to make it travel in a slight are orcurve toward the pins.

Further objects are to provide a construction of maximum simplicity,efliciency, economy and ease of assembly and operation, and such furtherobjects, advantages and capabilities as will later more fully appear andare inherently possessed thereby.

The invention further resides in the construction, combination andarrangements of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, andwhile I have shown therein a preferred embodiment it is to be understoodthat the same is susceptible of modification and change, and comprehendsother details, arrangements of parts, features and constructions withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of my game.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view thereof in rear or end elevation with therear wall removed.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the rear of the game with partsremoved to more fully disclose certain details of construction.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of-the rear of the gamewith parts removed.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the pin loading chamber.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the structure shown in Fig.5 when moved into an elevated position.

Fig. 7 is another fragmentary perspective view of the magazine orloading chamber and associated parts showing the parts just after thetrap doors are opened to discharge the pins.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view in vertical cross section of the pinloading chamber and associate parts, taken on the line B-8 of Fig. 5.

Fig.- 9 is another fragmentary view in vertical cross section of the pinloading chamber and associated parts when moved into an elevatedposition for discharging the pins, taken on the line 99 of Fig. 7.

'Fig. 10 is a vertical sectional view-of the ball propelling mechanism.

Fig. 11 is a top plan view of the ball propelling mechanism.

Fig. 12 is an end view of the ball propelling mechanism with the ball inposition.

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary perspective view of the ball retainingmechanism in the runway.

In the embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, represents thecabinet housin my game. This cabinet is provided with front 2, sides 3and 4 and rear 5 preferably of wood, composition or metal. The rear 5extends above the other sides and has mounted thereon an invertedU-shaped member 6, the front leg of which rests on the top of the sides3 and 4 (see Fig. 4). Near the top of the sides 3 and 4 are bracemembers or supports 8 and 9 for the floor In of the alley. On each sideof this floor are located inverted U-shaped members II and I2 forhousing some of the mechanism later dea scribed. These members areprovided with cutout portions I3 and I4 for a purpose hereinafterexplained. Similar members I5 and I6 are in the front part of the floor.The parts II and I5, and I2 and I6 may be of one piece if desired. Ontop of these members and on the sides and front of the cabinet may beplaced a glass top or other transparency secured to the members byscrews l8 or the like. In the top center portion of the front 2 isprovided a cut-out or channel |9 in which is located the ball propellingmechanism indicated generally by the reference character 20. At the rearof the floor I0 is pit 2| for receiving the ball and knocked over pinshereinafter referred to as deadwood. The pit has sides 23 extending fromthe alley ID to the floor 22. The pit has a chute portion 24 extendingbeyond a side 23 and ending in well or hopper 25, one wall of which isformed by a movable conveyor belt chain 26. rotatable on sprocket wheels21'and 28, driven by motor shaft 29. is journalled at one end in bearingsecured to rear wall 5 of the cabinet and is driven by motor or otherpower source (not shown) in the front part of the cabinet. Sprocket 28is mounted on stub shaft 3| freely rotatable in bearing 32 on the rearwall 5 of the cabinet.

On chain 28 are a plurality of bifurcated projections 33 adapted toreceive and engage the pins 34 or balls 35 in the bottom of well 25 andcarry them over sprocket wheel 28 where they are dumped into chute 36connecting with runway 3'! which is inclined slightly and leads to thefront of the cabinet under members 6, l2 and I6 to the ball propellingmechanism 20,

The balls follow this runway. The pins, however, drop through opening 38in the chute to tube or hopper 39. This tube has two bends therein (seeFi 4) and the bottom of the bent portion is provided with slot 40 sothat the pins will leave the end 4| of the tube in upright posi- Hon.This slot is a little wider than the heads of the pins but not as wideas the base. When the pins come down this tube in upright position, orbase first. they continue on that way. When thev c me down head first,however. the head will enter the slot until the shoulder 34 of the in coac s the sides of the tube around the s ot. The base will then tilt overuntil it is inclined downwardly enough to pull out the head because ofits greater weight and the pin then continu s downward in the desiredupright pos tion. The pins are dropped from the tube 39 nto a magazineor loading chamber 42 directly therebelow. This chamber projects throughand xtends sl htlv above the sloping floor 22 of the chute ortion 24 ofthe pit and is fulcrumed or ivotally connected thereto by pins 43 or thelike mounted in suitable openings (not shown) in or be eath the hour.

This magazine is more fully shown in Figs. 5 to 9. It is an elongatedchamber or member provided with opening 44 closed at the bottom Shaft29' 45. On one side it is provided with a plurality of depending membersor plates 46 extending some distance away from or below the chamber andslightly beyond adjoining sides. These members mayzbe integral with theside from which they project as shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 or may be madeseparate and suitably attached thereto. The tops of these members formpart of one side of the chamber. The remaining portion of that sidecomprises individual trap doors 4'! hingedly mounted at a point spacedfrom the chamber and in a manner to contact edges of opposite sides ofthe chamber. The rearward extension 48 is formed with a bead 49 adaptedto receive rod or pin 50 of the stationary hinge member or bracket 5|suitably mounted on chamber 42. The rod or pin 50 is rigidly secured inbead 49 whereby movement or tripping of a door will cause the rod torotate and it in turn carry all the doors to an open position. Toaccomplish this purpose, the lowermost door 41 is provided with tab 52adapted to be tripped in a manner later described.

The chamber 42 is provided near its lower end with eye 53 to which isconnected one end of wire or rope 54 passing through pulley 55 mountedon the underside of floor H). The wire 54 is connected at its other endto one end of arcuate arm 56 swingably or pivotally mounted at 51 to astub shaft 58 on the side of the cabinet. This arm is also provided withfollowing roller 59 bearing the face of cam 60 rotatable by shaft 6|mounted between the sides 3 and 4 of the cabinet in bearings 62 and 63.This shaft 6| is rotatable by means of gear wheel 64 thereon driven byworm 65 On shaft 66 mounted in bearing 61 on the floor of the cabinetandbeing driven in turn by motor shaft 29 through pinion gears 68 and 69.Bracket or strap 10 is provided on the side of the cabinet to supportand form a bearing for this shaft 66.

Movement of the cam 60 causes the following roller 59 and arm 56 to bedepressed which lowers the end of the wire 54 connected thereto andraises the chamber 42 to horizontal position as shown in dotted lines inFig. 2. Just before the chamber is horizontal the tab 52 will contactthe bottom of a chute ll (see Fig. 9) which forces the rod 50 torotateand carry with it the doors 1 whereby to open all the doors anddischarge the pins from the chamber 42 into the aligned chutes 1| alongwhich they slide by reason of gravity into tubes 12 integrally orotherwise connected to chutes ll The tubes 12 lead to vertical tubes 13,the boti ms of which are slightly below the point where they are joinedby tubes 72. These tubes 73 are open at the bottom into which extend theupper ends of a set of plungers I4 mounted on or carried bv plate '15.The plungers are of such height that when fully raised by means of theplate the tops are flush with the top of floor U through which theyextend in openings 16 therein.

On the underside of the plate 75 is rigidly attached post or head 11having cross pin 18 ext nding therethrough. This pin extends through sots 19 in yoke on the end of arm 8|. The other end (not shown) of thisarm is fulcrumed or swin ably mounted in the front of the cabinet. Thearm is also provided with following roller 82 contacting the face of thecam 83 on shaft 6| whereby movement of the shaft and cam raises andlowers the arm 8| to raise and lower the plungers 14 in the tubes 73.

Shaft 6| is also provided with a cam 84, the

face of which is contacted by following roller 85 on arcuate arm 86, oneend of which is swingably mounted on stub shaft 81 and connected at itsother end to rod 88 which operates bell crank 89 which in turn operatesand is connected to one end of sweeper 99 on the floor or alley I9. Thissweeper is designed to remove the deadwood from the alley into the pit(see Figs. 1 and 3) The ball propelling mechanism 29 comprises cylinder9I rotatable in sleeve mounting 94 swingably secured to the bottom ofcut-out portion I9 in the front of the machine. Collars 92 are securedas by screws 93 to the cylinder oneach side of the mounting whereby toprevent removal of the cylinder from its mounting. In the top of members9I and 94 are registered openings 95 to receive a ball 35 from the endof a runway 31. The member 94 is also provided with back stop 99 toguide the ball through openings 95 into chamber 91 in cylinder 9|.

Cylinder 9I is open at its rear end but closed by member 98 at its frontend. Member 98 is provided with neck 99 forming an elongated bearing I99adapted to receive plunger I9I hav ing handle I92 at its front or outerend and piston I93 at the other. Spring I94 encompasses the piston rodor plunger and is positioned'between members 99 and I93 to normallyretain the plunger in its forward position shown in Fig. 10. Rigidlysecured to closure member 98 is channel member I95. This member isarcuate in cross section and is of such a size that the ball will reston the upper edges of the arcuate channel at but point contacts and toone side of the center of mass of the ball (see Fig. 12). In its normalposition, this member will be directly below the openings 95 to receivethe ball (see Fig. 19).

Cylinder 9I and member I95 are rotatable so that after the ball isreceived in member I95 the cylinder may be rotated to one side or theother, thereby turning member I95 with it. When the plunger is pulledback and released to propel the ball, the latter will leave the end ofthe mechanism with the spin desired by the player because it will deriveits spin from its support on the edges of the arcuate channel in themember I95, this support being to one side of the center of mass of theball. For example, if the member E95 is turned to either side of itsnormal position, the ball will spin when going down the alley andthereby acquire english to curve it into the pins.

Also located on shaft 6| are cams I91 and I98 which contact mercoidswitches I99 and H9, respectively, for stopping the motor atpredetermined intervals. In the front of the cabinet may be located coinslot III for putting a coin operated starting mechanism (not shown) intooperation. A push button II 2 is a so provided to start the motor whendesired. The coin control mechanism, electrical circuits, etc. used areof the usual type and, as they do not form a part of the invention, arenot shown.

The operation of the device is as follows:

A coin is put in the slot III which operates the motor long enough forthe cam 83 to raise the plungers 14 to their top position at which.

time cam I91 contacts switch I99 to shut off the motor, whereby thebottoms of pins 34 are flush with the top of the alley- The ballpropelling mechanism is then operated manually to propel the ball. Pushbutton H2 is then pushed which starts up the motor and cam 93 lowers theplungers with the standing pins still remaining thereon. At the sametime, cam 84 operates the sweeper mechanism'which sweeps the deadwoodinto the pit and then returns to its normal position in cut-out portionI4 underneath the member I2. As soon as the sweeper is returned, cam 83raises the plungers to their uppermost position and places the standingpins in position to be knocked down by a second ball, at which point camI98 contacts mercoid switch II9 to again stop the motor.

At most times that the motor is operating, the belt 26 is functioning toraise the fallen pins and used balls into the chute 39 where the ballsgo down therunway 31 and the pins down the tube 39 into the magazine 42.As soon as the magazine is filled; the other pins (two or more sets ofpins are provided so that the magazine may be refilled as soon asemptied and returned to its initial position) falling through the tube39 will strike the top of the last pin therein and be deflected onto thefloor 22 of the pit ZI, then down to well 25 to be picked up by the beltor chain 29 again. However, it is not necessary to move the belt whilethe magazine is in horizontal position or while being raised thereto orlowered therefrom. I therefore provide a clutch II9 on motor shaft 29and operated by solenoid III to stopthe movement of the belt. Thissolenoid is connected to mercoid switches I98 and is operated by it tooperate clutch II9.

After the second ball has been shot, it is necessary to insert anothercoin to again operate the motor. When this is done the cam 99 pressesarm 56 which raises the magazine 42 and the pins 34 therein are dumpedinto the chute H and through tubes 12 onto the plungers 14 which havebeen again lowered by the cam 83 into their lowermost position toreceive the pins. It will be apparent that the machine may be easilyadjusted whereby a single coin will operate the device more than twiceor that the coin actuated switch may be done away with entirely.

In order to speed up the game, several balls are used in order that itwill not be necessary to wait until the ball is brought up by the belt29. How'- ever, so that only one ball will be available each time, arack I I5 is mounted in opening I I 9 in the bottom of runway 81. Thisrack is rotatable or pivotally mounted on pin I I1 in lugs I I8 attachedto or formed integrally with runway 31 and is normally held in theposition shown in Fig. 13 by springl I 9 attached to projection I29 onthe bottom of runway 31. The flange IZI of the rack when held in thisposition will act as a barrier to prevent the balls 35 from going beyondit. This rack is directly in the path of bell crank 89 so that each timeit is brought forward to operate the sweeper 99 it will contact the rackand push it forward. lowering flange ii: to permit one of the balls 35to enter the rack and be held between the fianges HI and I22. When thebell crank 89 returns to its former position after the sweepingoperation is completed, rack H5 is brought back to its former positionbecause of spring H9 and the ball is moved over flange I 22 and rolls bygravity down the alley to the ball propelling mechanism. It isunderstood that the back of the runway is higher than the front topermit this. The alley itself, however, is slightly elevated in front soas to insure the ball will roll into the pit. The ball propellingmechanism is tilted slightly upwardly at its rear or open end so thatthe ball will not run out thereof until the plunger is operated.

Having thus disclosed my invention, I claim:

1. A bowling game comprising an alley with free pins thereon, a ballpropelling mechanism at one end thereof, a pit for receiving deadwoodoverturned by the ball at the other end thereof and having a slopingfloor ending in a well, an endless conveyor associated with the pit forreceiving the deadwood and transporting it from the well to a positionabove the alley, means for returning the ball to the propellingmechanism comprising a chute and a runway, an opening in the chute forreceiving the pins, a tube connecting with said opening and having meansto discharge the pins below the alley and in upright position, amagazine for receiving the pins, means for raising the pins to the floorof the alley, and means for discharging the pins from the magazine intothe raising means.

. 2. A bowling game comprising an alley with free pins thereon, a ballpropelling mechanism at one end thereof, a pit for receiving deadwoodoverturned by the ball at the other end thereof and having a slopingfloor ending in a well, an endless conveyor associated with the pit forreceiving the deadwood and removing it from the well to a position abovethe alley, means associated with said conveyor for returning the ball tothe propelling mechanism comprising a chute and a runway, an opening inthe chute for receiving the pins, a tube connecting with said openingand having means to discharge the pins below the alley and in uprightposition, a magazine for receiving the pins from the discharge means andcomprising an elongated normally vertical magazine having a plurality ofdoors on a single hinge, means for raising the magazine to asubstantially horizontal position, means for rotating the hinge todischarge the pins from the magazine, a set of chutes for receiving thedischarged pins and along which the pins are adapted to slide to bedelivered into a set of tubes, and means in said tubes for raising thepins to the floor of the alley.

3. In a bowling game having means for removing the pins from the alleyand means for returning the pins to the alley, a magazine for receivingand storing the pins until ready to be returned, comprising an elongatedcompartment pivoted at one end, and having doors with a common hinge fordischarging the pins from the magazine into the returning means.

4. In an automatic bowling game, means for storing pins until ready foruse, comprising an elongated magazine having doors therein on a singlehinge, and members depending from the magazine at each end of the doorsto provide guiding and retaining means for the pins when the doors areopened. c

5. In a bowling game having means for removing a set of pins from thealley and means for storing another set of pins in a magazine while thegame is being played, means for raising the second set to the alleyafter the first set has been removed therefrom, means for transferringthe second set to the raising means, and means for making the storingmeans inoperative while the transferring means is in operation.

CARL WEBER.

